Monday, January 21, 2019

Poll Ballots 2019 - Week 5

(Photo: Harry Scull,Buff News)

Large Schools

1. Park (MMA) - Survived a scare at Nichols last week to stay unbeaten against WNY competition. Friday night the Pioneers host Lew-Port, and on Sunday they'll get a rematch of the 2018 Class A Federation Championship game when they travel to play Albany Academy in a showcase game that likely features the top two ranked teams in NYS Class A.

2. Niagara Falls (NFL) - Still the kings of Niagara County, Falls dished Lew-Port its first loss of the season by 18 points for an eighth consecutive victory.

3. St. Francis (MMA) - Picked up a nice win over St. Joe's on Monday to set up a "Game of the Week' visit to Delaware Avenue on Thursday night.

4. Canisius (MMA) - The Crusaders were the tougher team in the second half of their win over the Marauders Saturday afternoon. Thursday night's game against St. Francis is a big one.

5. Lew-Port (A2) - After suffering their first loss of the season, the Lancers schedule doesn't get any easier this week... Cardinal O'Hara on Tuesday and at Park Friday night!

6. Williamsville North (AA) - Brought their brooms to West Seneca West last week to complete the season sweep over the defending league champs in a game they led by as many as 22 points, two nights after knocking off Sweet Home by eight points.

7. South Park (A2) - The Sparks got out with a two-point win over Emerson last week and will have to do it all over again on the road this Thursday.

8. Amherst (A2) - Avenged their loss to West Seneca East and moved into sole possession of first place in ECIC II. A pair of tough games coming up this week for the Tigers on back-to-back nights with road trips to Sweet Home and Lockport.

9. Health Sciences (A2) - On Friday night the Falcons visit Middle College, a team they've knocked out of the playoffs the past two seasons.

10. St. Joe's (MMA) - Coming off a tough loss to their rivals, the Marauders have a challenging weekend ahead with games against Cardinal O'Hara and Aquinas.

Small Schools

1. Olean (B1) - Took the #8 small school in WNY, Southwestern, out by 36 points to improve to 13-0.

2. Cardinal O'Hara (MMA) - O'Hara is on a mission and taking no prisoners!! Trailing at halftime, the Hawks threw it into high gear in the second half at St. Francis on Wednesday for an impressive victory that keeps the team undefeated. Tuesday's game at Lew-Port should be a lot of fun and Friday's trip to St. Joe's will give the team an opponent with some size in the paint.

3. Nichols (MMA) - They beat Health Sciences, who beat Tapestry. They beat East, who beat Middle College. And they almost shocked Park on Tuesday night. I know the Vikings have some losses, but none to teams ranked below them.

4. Tapestry (C1) - The Thunderhawks won big over Maritime last week and face a huge test on Wednesday with a game at Cardinal O'Hara.

5. East (C1) - The Panthers led after three quarters on the road at Northstar Christian, who is a top 10 team in NYS Class A.

6. Middle College (C1) - The Kats are at Timon on Monday afternoon for what will have to serve WNY as this year's MLK Classic, before hosting Health on Friday night.

7. Allegany-Limestone (B2) - Moved to 10-1 on the season, winning a surprisingly defensive battle against high-scoring Silver Creek. The Gators visit Wellsville, one of Section V's toughest teams from Class B, on Tuesday.

8. Southwestern (B2) - Bounced back from the Olean loss to beat Chautauqua Lake and improve to 11-3 on the year.

9. Randolph (C2) - The Cardinals make the trip to Silver Creek this week, a team they edged by two points earlier this year.

10. Medina (B1) - The Mustangs are now in sole possession of first place in the N-O, after earning a big 20-point win over Wilson, a team who swept the defending league champion Mustangs last year.

People always want to make claims of where teams should be .Medina only loss is to Tapestry but I can respect that loss , they were playing one of the best small schools. Who has City Honors played to be taken seriously ? Make your non LG games count instead of playing in a bad lg then in weak non lg games .Then you have an argument. Enough of cupcakes on schedules to pad kids stats , a common occurance in WNY.Plus you guys lost to Hutch Tech and Depew bad losses .

Same city honors team was down to Olean in the 4th by 2 last year, the kids can’t write the schedule they play, beating most teams by 20. Depew game they were in the Depew tournament and got screwed by the refs because Depew coach is head of section 6 b-ball . A lot of talent including 3 kids radford, slaughter, and Taylor who will play at some level in college . Keep an eye out for them

As an alumni and former player for City Honors, they do have a pretty good team this year but their only quality win is a one point home win against Seneca. It's tough to gauge exactly how good this team is with the level of competition they've been playing. I'd be more impressed with them and would respect their two loss record more if they were playing in the more talented division of the Yale Cup. According to the 2018-19 BEDS numbers, they're the 6th largest school in the City, all 5 schools above them play in the more talented league as well as the smaller schools of East, MEC and Burgard. They have no business playing in the lower division.

Medina's only loss this year was against Tapestry and they are first in their league so I'm OK with them being ranked ahead of City Honors. Medina beat Grand Island earlier this year and Honors plays GI in a couple weeks which will be the only real barometer you'd have to compare the teams effectively.

The rankings are good for chitchat and motivation. The good thing is that it shakes out in the end. Quality wins are really at and through sectionals and beyond. CC does a great job and you can compare state rank, buff news etc -- all in good fun. Best not to use ranks to bad mouth folks, kids, refs, coaches et al